When making 45s, you take a glob of petroleum poison, and squash it flat with
the silver master-recording. Voila! Instant record, which means they
crank these babies out faster than hand-bills. This is precisely what we expect
from San Antonio’s Sons of Hercules, who were born to crank out buttloads of
exciting, two-minute rave-ups, and whose new Unclean 7-inch, “Spittin’ Fire”
b/w “Snake People,” with its glorious picture sleeve (and green vinyl), is as
priceless a musical experience as anything on those ol’ Beatles pic-sleeve
singles you’ve got collecting dust in the garage. Gomez falls into this same
category — as well as the punk rock music one — only their full-color sleeve
is actually printed on the record, and while this may be more impressive than
the two songs on the Scooch Pooch picture disc, fans of the Austin trio won’t
be disappointed with “23” or “Pocketrocket, dishrag.” Sleeve art’s kept to a
Xerox minimum on the Furry Things’ “Still California” b/w “Car Songs Unlimited”
out on the local Trance Syndicate label now. The A-side’s a fuzzy yet tuneful,
Sixteen Deluxe-sounding possible paean to the Mama’s & Papa’s “California
Dreamin” while their “Car” is almost, but not quite a song — yet again, it’s
tuneful, very tuneful. Trance didn’t even bother with a sleeve on a clear vinyl
split from the long-departed Cherubs and the Fuck Emos — you might remember
the same two bands splitting space on an Unclean single last year. The Cherubs
do their usual death slog through the distortion-on-ten version of Bow Wow
Wow’s “I Want Candy” while the Fuck Emos slow-slam through one of their better
songs, “Do You Wanna Dance?” Do I? Only if there’s still vinyl in your jukebox,
honey. — Raoul Hernandez “7 and 7 is” reviews local and national 7″ singles. Send to: “7 and 7
is,” The Austin Chronicle, PO Box 49066, Austin, TX 78765.
This article appears in February 16 • 1996 and February 16 • 1996 (Cover).